


One step after another

by TwurtleEggy



Series: Ori, but a little to the left [13]
Category: Ori and the Blind Forest
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27839314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwurtleEggy/pseuds/TwurtleEggy
Summary: Self improvement can be a difficult process.
Relationships: Ori/Sein (Ori Video Games)
Series: Ori, but a little to the left [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709002
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	1. Planning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope I didn't keep you waiting! Future chapters will be longer, once we get more into the meat of things.

Ori awoke to a gentle poking at his back, accompanied by quiet squeaks and giggles. He grumbled for a moment, drowsily rubbing at his eyes and stretching. "I'm awake, I'm awake." A triumphant squeak sounded, and he chuckled slightly. Ori squinted slightly, noticing very, very early morning sunlight leaking through his door. "What are you two doing up so early," he muttered, rolling into a sitting position.

A quiet squeak rang from the other nest, and Ori looked over to see that a third of their siblings was sitting there. "Oh! Hi there, what are you doing here?"

The little Spirit squeaked and stood up tall. "Dad want talk brother!"

Ori tilted his head. "Dad wants to talk to me?" His sibling nodded, beaming at having successfully delivered the message. Ori chuckled and clapped, patting him on the head. "Well... I don't know why you came here so early... but let's have some breakfast first."

* * *

Ori hummed quietly to himself as he walked through Hope's Orchard; Blaze, Sera, and their third sibling walking next to him. The soft wind of early spring blew through the Spirits' fur, and Ori basked in the peacefulness of it all.

The walk to the Hollow Grove was always nice, in Ori's opinion. Long enough that he could enjoy the feeling of the wind and the nature around him, but not so long that it dragged on. His siblings hopped around quietly in front of him, looking through bushes and clambering partway up trees before hopping back down and returning to walk next to him.

They entered the Hollow Grove after some time, and the three little spirits ran off to play as Ori walked up to the Spirit Well. "Hi dad," he said with a smile, "there's something you want to talk with me about?"

Kytas hummed quietly in response. "Hello Ori; and yes, there is. I was thinking about the awful snowstorm we had over the winter, and had an idea." He paused for a moment. "Perhaps it would be good for your siblings to have houses for them to stay in during more harsh weather, so that you, Kuro, and Naru don't have to house them all whenever things get too rough for your siblings to stay out here."

Ori hummed and looked down at the ground in thought for a moment. "Well... yeah, I could do that! It would probably take a while, but I can do that!"

Kytas let out a sigh of relief, "thank you Ori, that is good to hear. Perhaps it would be good to build them near your home; there is plenty of space there, and the walk here is not too long." A bit of thinking, and Ori nodded in agreement.

Some of the younger Spirits had come over towards him, having overheard the conversation and becoming curious. Ori smiled and patted one of them on the head. "Hey guys, how would you like me to make you proper houses to live in? For when the weather gets too rough for you guys to be outside."

All of his siblings' eyes seemed to light up at once, and they cheered and squeaked excitedly, running and hopping around him happily. Ori smiled and giggled quietly at his siblings' energy, glad to see his family so happy. "Alright, alright, we won't get anything done if we just stand around all day," he says, and his siblings are quick to give him a bit more space. "Now, are you guys ready to go?" A chorus of cheers, and a round of farewells to their father, and Ori and his siblings set off towards Hope's Orchard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I've been away so long; been having some real life troubles, but hopefully now I should be better! Probably won't be posting everyday/every other day, but I do want to at least try and get out 2 or more chapters a week.


	2. Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning and the past.

The walk back to Hope's Orchard takes much longer this time, Ori needing to get his siblings back on track every few minutes. It's worth it though, at least in his eyes; he's ecstatic that he gets to spend more time with them, and overjoyed that they're so excited. Not once does he get irritated, and he a smile shines on his face the whole way home.

Ori spins to face his siblings and claps once. "Alright everyone, I need as many large sticks and branches as you guys can find, okay? Bring any that you find back here, and pile them up in front of my home. Then we'll sort through them towards the end of the day, and then I'll take you guys home and we can get to properly building tomorrow, okay?" The little spirits send out a resounding cheer, and immediately scramble to achieve their objective. Ori fails to contain a few giggles, before setting off with the same goal, though at a much more relaxed pace than his siblings.

Time flies by, and by noon a massive stack of branches and sticks of varying sizes rests before Ori's home-alongside Ori's siblings, who are quick to start eating the berries and soup that he offers them. He doesn't have nearly enough to feed them all though, so he instructs Sera to keep in charge while he and Blaze go to the river to collect more food.

"I should make more of these bags," Ori mutters to himself as he fills his bag with berries. "Maybe set up a routine or something for some of the others to come down here with me and get food each morning..." Blaze squeaks and nods, prompting a laugh from Ori and bringing the older spirit to rub his younger sibling's head. "We can figure that out later though. We've got other stuff to focus on right now." He placed a few more berries into his bag, and after checking with Blaze to make sure that his bag was full and that he wouldn't have trouble with the weight, the two returned home.

The little spirits were quick to crowd around them when they got back, but Ori soon managed to calm them down, and made sure everyone got some food to eat. While his siblings ate, Ori began sorting through the pile of branches and sticks, splitting it into two piles; one that could be used for building, and one that could be used for firewood and the like. It wasn't a slow process necessarily, but he knew that if he did all of it alone, it would get dull far before he was done, considering the sheer size of the pile he had to sort through.

Luckily for him, he was expressly _not_ doing it alone, as his siblings one by one finished up their food and came to help him. After a few pointers and a bit of advice from Ori on what went where, they quickly got to work, and the pile began to decrease in size bit by bit.

By the time that his siblings had to go home, the pile was nearly fully sorted, and a proud smile shone on Ori's face. The return trip to the Hollow Grove was much calmer than the trip from it, the little spirits yawning and walking slowly next to Ori.

"We're they well behaved?" Kytas asked once the group had reached the Grove, the setting sun casting rays of red, yellow, and orange light across the world.

Ori nodded, gently patting the head of one of his siblings. "Yeah, they were. We made some good progress today; I think that things will go just fine."

"That's good," Kytas said quietly. "You should get some rest yourself, Ori."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, probably. See you tomorrow dad, have a good night." He gave his siblings farewells too, and after a bit of assuring them that he would be back tomorrow, he, Blaze, and Sera all returned to Hope's Orchard.

After dinner, Ori tucked his siblings into bed, giving both of them a good night hug, then hopped into bed himself. Curling the blanket around himself and getting into a more comfortable position, he soon drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Ori woke with a choking gasp, his vision fuzzy and his heart pounding. He scrambled around for a moment, choking and sobbing as he tried to reign in his breathing. Panicked squeaks rang and swam through his ears as Blaze and Sera woke, both of them rushing to his side. Ori coughed a few times, and breathed in rapidly, looking around terrified. "Kw-Kwolok! Kwolok, where-where did-"

He slowly regained his bearings, and he realized that he had only had a dream. Blaze squeaked quietly, holding onto one of Ori's hands. "I'm-I'm fine," Ori said, though all three of them knew it was a lie. "I'm... I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Please, please don't worry about me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope things weren't moving around too much here.


	3. Sepulcrum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heya, sorry this chapter is so incredibly short. I do absolutely want to be writing longer chapters; I've just been having a lot of trouble doing so these past few months. I am working to try and fix this issue, but for now, my sincere apologies. I do still hope this is an enjoyable or interesting chapter, though.  
> WARNING: This chapter contains lightly descriptive drowning.

Ori felt awful.

His head pounded like the roars of Mount Horu, and he was absolutely exhausted. He hadn't managed to fall back asleep after his nightmare, and trying to choke back sobs to stop his siblings from worrying hadn't been easy.

So when he felt a gentle poke against his side accompanied by an only just barely audible squeak, he had been quick to ask Sera and Blaze to get all of their other siblings by themselves, and to simply finish sorting the sticks and branches while he got more rest. They were hesitant at first, but eventually relented.

Once they'd left, it wasn't long before Ori fell back asleep.

* * *

To a degree, Ori hated the Soul Link.

Of course, he never would have been able to save Nibel or Niwen without it, but it felt...

 _Uncaring,_ he supposed. When it activated, it activated, regardless of the status of the place his last usage of the Link was at.

Not even if it was in the heart of a flooded tree.

Not even if he had no time to react; no time to hold his breath, as water flooded his lungs.

It didn't care. It did what it had to do to save the day.

No matter how much he hurt.


	4. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ori's siblings help with the aftermath of his nightmare.

The little Spirits sat patiently in a circle. All of the sticks were sorted out. Everything was done.

Ori still hadn't come out of his house.

After a long period of silence - not a single one of them daring to make a noise - Blaze spoke up. "I'm gonna go check on Ori." All of the other little Spirits nodded, murmuring quietly to each other as Blaze stood, slowly walking up to the door that separated the inside of the stump from the rest of the world. He slowly pulled it open, peeking inside. "Brother?" he squeaked out.

Quiet coughing echoed from Ori's bed, the older Spirit sitting up blearily. His eyes were red, his fur disheveled, and voice hoarse. "Blaze? What's wrong?"

The younger Spirit's eyes widened, and he ducked out of the house. All of his siblings were staring at him expectantly, and he motioned for them to come into the house, stepping in himself and walking over to Ori, giving him a hug. "Brother okay?"

Ori hesitated for a moment, words caught in his throat. He coughed out a wheeze, curling up a bit and hugging Blaze back. "I'm f-fine, Blaze. Don't wor-worry, okay?"

The little Spirit shook his head, as the other Spirits came into the house, squeaking in panic and rushing over to hug Ori as well when the saw the state he was in. "Brother lie! Brother not okay!"

"No, I promise, I'm fi-" Ori wheezed roughly as coughs wracked his body, and his siblings began to panic more and more. "N-no, I'm fine, I promise, please don't worry-" his words failed to convince the little Spirits, intersected with coughs and wheezes as he tried to regain his composure. "Pl-please, please don't be concerned over me. Please?" None of the little Spirits budged. "A-alright, can you guys at least move a little, it's kind of hard to breath..." In a chorus of squeaks, his siblings stopped their dogpile hug, sitting around him and staring at Ori, patiently waiting for him to speak.

Ori took a couple deep breaths to steady himself, placing his hands on the ground to try and keep calm. "Okay. I'm... I'm not alright. I admit that. But-" he hesitated at the quickly turning downcast faces of his siblings, "...but you guys shouldn't have to deal with it. You're too young. I should be tougher than this..."

Sera scooted forward, and Ori picked him up with a sigh, rubbing his sibling's head gently. "Want to help," Sera grumbled, "not want Brother sad..."

"And I appreciate that so, so much," Ori whispered, "but I don't want to hurt you guys."

"Won't hurt us!" Sera retorted, "Brother resposble!" Sera blinked and shook his hands in frustration, "Brother respos-respos-" he growled, "Brother good! Brother no hurt us!"

Ori patted Sera's head and chuckled hoarsely, "not like that. I don't... I don't want to make you guys sad. I don't want to make you upset, or cry, or frustrated. You're my younger siblings. I should be helping you all. Not you all helping me." His siblings squeaked in protest, but Ori only shook his head and looked out the covered up window; streaks of orange light slipped in, the afternoon sun sinking into the horizon. "It's getting late. I should get you all home. Tomorrow, I'll help you all more with the building, instead of just napping all day, okay?" The little Spirits squeaks slowly quieted down, as they realized that their protests weren't doing much.

Perhaps they simply needed someone else's help.

* * *

"Dad-"

"Ori," Kytas said, "why did you not tell me you've been having nightmares? Why did you not tell anyone you were having nightmares?" Ori opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to find the words he wanted to say, but only ending up coughing from the remaining dryness in his throat. The little Spirits watched their brother hopefully, trusting in their dad to be able to do something more to help their sibling.

Ori wrung his hands for a moment, breathing unsteadily. "I-I-" his hands clenched together, and he buried his face in his arms, coughing as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. "I-I-" he wheezed for a second, "I don't-I don't _know!"_ he shouted, teeth clenched as the tears began to more heavily form. "I don't know, and I just - all I wanted was for no one to get hurt! For everyone to be happy, and for no one to cry or be sad or-or-" he choked, falling to his knees, full on sobbing where he stood.

A light blue glow descended from on top of the Spirit Tree, and Sein hovered over to Ori, resting against his side. "Ori..."

He choked, his breaths shallow and his eyes filled with tears. "S-Sei-" he couldn't manage to fully get out their name through his tears, but his posture seemed to lighten a little, and a couple of his siblings came over, helping him to move to a sitting position. Sein moved to rest in his lap, and Ori's tears slowly yet surely lessened bit by bit.

No one else in the Grove spoke, only the sound of Ori's slowly lessening crying and the noises of the early night breaking the quiet. Once Ori's breathing was more steady and he was no longer crying, Sein floated up a bit. "Would you like me to spend the night at your house?"

Ori smiled shakily, giving Sein a small kiss. "Yeah. That would be nice." The orb of light giggled, rubbing up against his cheek.

"I will make sure that your siblings are well rested," Kytas stated, a bit softer than usual. "I can have Blaze and Sera stay here for the night, and you don't have to work with your siblings tomorrow."

"No, no," Ori shook his head, "it'll be alright. Blaze and Sera can stay at my house, and I'll help out tomorrow. I promise I won't overexert myself." Kytas hesitated, but hummed in acknowledgement.

Ori stood up, his legs still shaking slightly, but most certainly much less than earlier, as the starry night sky and glow of the moon illuminated the forest. Sein floating next to him, and Blaze and Sera walking on either side of him, they all went home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel sort of like the pacing on this was a bit poor.  
> But hey, this is the longest chapter of this story so far! I've been able to focus on writing a lot more lately, so that trend should continue until I'm back to the chapter length I usually write for! Hopefully this was a good read!


End file.
